Makers seek to quell laptop fears

Manufacturers were last night trying to quell public fears over millions of potentially unsafe laptop batteries which have sparked two of the biggest consumer electronics recalls in history.

Last week Dell, the world's biggest computer manufacturer, recalled 4.1m laptop batteries after reports that some machines had short-circuited and burst into flames.

Apple followed this week by recalling a further 1.8m batteries, resulting in concerns over the wider safety of laptops.

At the centre of the storm are lithiumion batteries manufactured by Sony, the Japanese electronics giant, at a plant about 150 miles north of Tokyo. Although the defect was initially identified in Dell's computers, the Fukushima factory supplies batteries to dozens of electronics manufacturers, and they are used in millions of devices worldwide.

But despite initial worries that other computer manufacturers, including Hewlett Packard and Lenovo, and Sony itself, could be affected, the American safety watchdog which issued both recall notices has said it does not expect any further developments.

The Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) said it did not believe the problems would arise elsewhere.

Sony confirmed it would be shouldering much of the cost of the recalls, which it estimated would be between £91m and £136m.

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